5 Questions

Good morning.

It's the last Friday of October, so today I’ll respond to some of the comments and questions you sent me through the VC Notes inbox.

First, though, I want to alert you that UMMC Police will be paying extra attention to vehicles that park in a handicap-designated spot. Recently, an employee who is authorized to park in a handicap parking spot was unable to do so because some of the available spots were taken by vehicles that were not supposed to be there – otherwise known as illegally parked. So, officers will be frequently checking handicap spots in the stadium and on campus lots and they will ticket any vehicle that has no visible confirmation that they are authorized to be there. I understand that some of these instances may be patients and visitors, but I wanted to go ahead and bring broad awareness of this situation to maybe curb someone’s thoughts of parking illegally. You may save a few minutes on your walk in, but you could be causing a massive challenge to someone who actually needs the access that parking spot is intended to provide.

Now, on to the Q&A.

I read all your questions and comments and enjoy hearing from you. I’m only able to respond to some of them in this space, but I pass the rest along to senior administrators for their review and possible follow up.

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Q: As a physician who seeks to provide emotional and spiritual wellness to my patients, I have received this question various times; I thought it was time to ask you, Dr. Woodward. Currently, I do not know of any meditation rooms in the hospital. Are there any plans to have a meditation room/prayer room for patients’ families to reflect?

A: Thank you for this question. This is a good opportunity to make sure all faculty, staff and students have been made aware of the spaces we’ve set aside for this purpose. There are two chapels and one small meditation room in our Jackson hospitals, all of which are available at all times for use by employees, students, patients, families and visitors.

There is an interfaith chapel on the second floor of the University Hospital lobby next to Admissions and one located near the Sanderson Tower lobby just around the corner to the southwest. Directly across from double doors leading into the University Hospital chapel, there is a small room that can be used for quiet reflection, prayer or meditation. 

Each of these spaces is great for those moments that you need to step away from the hustle and bustle or for when you are dealing with a work or personal matter that requires quiet contemplation. And we should make sure our patients and visitors are aware that these rooms are available to them. They could be dealing with some of the most difficult situations of their lives and could really use a moment to themselves.

If a more personal approach is needed, please reach out to Pastoral Services by calling the Office of Patient Experience at 5-4545.

And at UMMC Grenada, a chapel is located outside of the emergency room and is available for use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Q:  Is UMMC not flying the American flag anymore? The only one I see currently is the "Donate Life" flag.

A:  I can assure you that we are flying the U.S. flag on this campus. The stars and stripes can be seen – right above our beautiful state flag – on the pole in front of University Hospital and the pole outside the Nelson Student Union.

The pole you are referencing is next to the Conerly Critical Care Hospital, which is used to show our connection to and support of the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency. We are proud to be home to the sole organ and tissue transplant program in the state, and we appreciate our relationship with MORA, which helps procure life-saving organs for our patients.

Q: Walking in from the stadium for my night shift, I have noticed that the sprinkler system comes on at 18:55. I've seen quite a few patient family members and employees getting wet. I was just wondering if there was a more opportune time to do this than at shift change and the end of patient visiting hours.

A: Our irrigation system activates on days that it is needed according to how much rain we’ve received. We set a start time for this that would normally allow for the system to be complete before times of high foot-traffic, but because of the lack of rain over the past couple of months, the run time has been longer than expected. To compensate, Facilities Services has adjusted the start time to earlier so that the system can complete its process earlier and not be on when we know there are large groups of employees coming and leaving.

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Q: I wanted to ask about the Sanderson Farms golf tournament. I was able to attend for a few hours on Saturday and the weather was fantastic. I would be interested to hear details about how much money was raised for the children's hospital and plans for next year if there are any yet. 

A: The Sanderson Farms Championship, Mississippi’s only PGA TOUR stop, is a fantastic annual event for our state and especially for Jackson. I’m not a golfer and don’t profess to know much about it, but I enjoy the action and have a good time when I attend.

Not only is the tournament a showpiece for our great city and state, it’s also a major fundraiser for many organizations, including the primary recipient, Children’s of Mississippi. For many years now, our children’s hospital has been the largest beneficiary of proceeds from the tournament. Since Sanderson Farms became the event’s title sponsor in 2013 and Century Club Charities was named the host, more than $10 million in tournament proceeds have been given to Friends of Children’s Hospital, a private not-for-profit fundraising organization that works to benefit the state’s only children’s hospital. We’ll find out early next year how much will be added to that total from this year’s tournament.

So much has been done thanks to the money raised through the golf tournament, and I can’t say enough about how appreciative I am (and I know I speak for our entire institution) to everyone who plays a part in making it a success. The dates for next year’s championship are already set: Sept. 30-Oct. 6.

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Q:  I was wondering if there had been any discussions to potentially reinstate COVID vaccination/booster mandates. I recently received one of the new COVID boosters and was surprised to hear from many (if not all) of my coworkers that they were not planning to receive any further COVID vaccinations. It seems that COVID is going the way of the flu, in that there will likely be a new booster each year. If we are mandating flu vaccines, why would we not also mandate COVID boosters as a means to reduce risk to our patients?

A: We take our cues for considering what vaccinations should be required for employment or enrollment from guidance published by The Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At this time, these agencies do not mandate that health care workers receive a COVID-19 vaccination or booster shot. 

They do, however, recommend that everyone 5 years old and older get one updated COVID-19 vaccine because they are proven effective in limiting the spread of the disease. We, too, encourage you to get your COVID vaccination, but are not requiring it of our employees and students.

Although a Mississippi state law adopted in 2022 prohibits requiring the vaccine, the law does provide that hospitals can require COVID-19 vaccinations, if failing to do so would result in being out of compliance with CDC and/or CMS regulations. If that happens, we will reevaluate our policy. 

To summarize, we are not mandating that faculty, staff and students receive a COVID-19 vaccination, but we do encourage you to do so on your own, using the clinic or pharmacy of your choice. The vaccine works and is good protection for you, your loved ones, the people you work with and our patients and visitors.

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As always, thank you for these and all the other submissions to the VC Notes. Please continue sending them to the inbox.

In closing today, I’d like to share with all of the parents of trick-or-treating-aged kids some Halloween safety tips shared recently on the Children’s of Mississippi Facebook page found here. More information provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics to help enjoy next week’s holiday can be found here. In addition to treating injuries and curing sickness, we want to do all we can to help keep kids safe and (energetically) moving forward with us toward A Healthier Mississippi.